The confirmed case is a Republic of Korea national in his mid-40s, who travelled to Guangdong province, China via Hong Kong on Tuesday May 26. The patient is a close contact of a confirmed MERS-CoV case in the Republic of Korea.
The patient is in isolation in a hospital in Huizhou, Guangdong province. We understand he is currently in a stable condition, and is being well cared for.
Chinese health authorities acted swiftly in response to the initial notification from the Republic of Korea that the close contact of a confirmed-MERS case had travelled to China earlier this week. For example:
- local health authorities are tracing all known close contacts of the patient;
- the Guangdong Health and Family Planning Commission dispatched an expert team to Huizhou to conduct epidemiological investigation and sampling;
- Hong Kong health authorities are tracing close contacts of the patient during his transit through Hong Kong.
Based on the evidence about MERS-CoV gathered to date, the virus does not seem to pass easily from person to person unless there is close contact. There is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
WHO is communicating closely with the Chinese health authorities to support their response to the case.
For more information on coronavirus infections see the WHO website:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus
About the World Health Organization
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.
For more information please contact
Ms WU Linlin
WHO China Office
E-mail: wul@who.int
Office Tel: +86 10 6532 7191